I had a great time in Boaco this past week. I was a little nervous to go to a new place by myself, without knowing anyone in the town, but I made it there safely. One of the teachers I will be working with picked me up at the bus terminal and we took a taxi to my house to meet my new family. I have a mom, Carmen, a dad, Alfonso, and a sister, Hazzel. I also have a brother, Yasser, but he goes to a university in Managua and only comes to Boaco on the weekends. I got to meet him on the weekend.
I went to my new high school to meet the principal and look around. It was all a little overwhelming because there were so many new things to see and learn. I’m excited to go back to Boaco and do my service there, but it’s going to be a little difficult in the beginning because I will have to start everything over again—meet new people, make new friends, meet new students, form a new youth group, etc.
I toured the city with my counterpart and with my host brother and sister. There are a lot of hills in Boaco and many parts have a lot of stairs to climb. It’s good exercise :) It takes me 20 minutes to walk to my high school and that includes a lot of going up and down hills. It’s not too bad of a walk and of course, good exercise :)
One day I went for a walk with my host brother, sister, and a friend through the country outside of the city. We walked to a friend’s house and had lunch there, then walked to the hospital to see where it was, and then we walked back home along the highway. We were gone for 5 hours! I was really tired by the time we got home, and we made sure to buy some ice cream to celebrate our journey.
My host brother also showed me the lighthouse in the upper part of Boaco. It’s very strange that there is a lighthouse here because there are no large bodies of water near our town. It is nice to go there and look out at the city because it is really high and pretty to see everything.
Boaco is much bigger than San Juan de Oriente—there are about 60,000 people there and San Juan only has about 6,000 people. There are a lot more ice cream shops (Eskimos), ciberes (internet cafes), shops, pharmacies, and there is a grocery store! There is also a post office, which is nice because then I can check my mail more often.
I came back to San Juan de Oriente on Tuesday after riding the bus from Boaco to Managua and meeting up with some other volunteers. We then road a bus back to San Juan and it felt nice to be back in our little town. We have less than 2 weeks left in San Juan de Oriente and I’m really going to miss it, but I’m excited to start my service in Boaco.
